Six achievements as a CouncillorA few weeks ago I was trying to put together a review of all that I'd written on this blog over the past year. I didn't get that far with it, and now it is February the moment for it seems to have passed. However, in doing it I was reminded of the posts that I'd written over the summer where I talked about what I saw as my achievements over the eight years that I served as a councillor on Luton Borough Council. Having failed to be re-elected in last May's local elections, I found the process of writing ... (more) |
Opinion: both private and public sector pensions need improvingThere are two fundamental problems with the analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies of the current negotiations on public sector pensions. Firstly, the IFS compares public sector pension provision with that of the private sector and implies that the inevitable disparity has to be rebalanced by cutting the public sector rather than improving private sector provision. Secondly, they choose to ignore the approximately £100 billion saved by moving from RPI to CPI and then says that if you exclude £100 billion and the fact that retired public sector workers' pensions are going to have lower increases than before, they ... (more) |
Nick Clegg, you can't go on about diversity and continue to pass over womenWhat a rubbish week this has been. Nothing has been as bad for me as the passage of the Welfare Reform Bill, a true nadir in the life of this Government, but it's not good to see one of your own people have to resign from the Cabinet. Whatever you think of Chris Huhne, and to be honest, I was never his biggest fan for all sorts of reasons, anyone else facing the same charges in any other job would not be sacked until after the Court case. Unfortunately for him, if he'd stayed in post, every time he tried ... (more) |
Betrayal and Loathing In the Lib DemsThe Faustian pact is now complete. The betrayal of everything the Liberal Democrats believed was accomplished this week when our ...Continue reading » (more) |
Leeds GIC update: Still confusedFurther to last week's post on Leeds GIC not understanding what they're diagnosing, they've responded to further "clarify" their position in response to a follow-up by Emma Brownbill. They're still pretty confused. Firstly, they apparently retract any claim to follow the DSM-IV: (this is despite it being listed on their web site) Your example above follows the current edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV (TR)) which makes a differential diagnosis coding based on current age (302.6 Gender Identity Disorder in Children, 302.85 Gender Identity Disorder in Adolescents or Adults). However, as a provider of Adult ... (more) |
New Lib Dem appointments to governmentAccording to the No. 10 website, Ed Davey MP will replace Chris Huhne as Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, with Norman Lamb to replace Davey in his role at the Department for Business. Completing the changes, Jenny Willott becomes an Assisstant Government Whip, and Jo Swinson replaces Norman Lamb as Nick Clegg's PPS. Congratulations to those Lib Dem MPs taking up new positions in government. (more) |
Whatever happened to 'Innocent ubtil proved guilty'I can hear the smug cries of satisfaction & if Chris Huhne was indeed stupid enough to try & dodge, nearly 10yrs ago, a simple driving ban then OK. The law is the law even when it is silly & largely unenforced. But he's not been found guilty yet. And I wonder how many of those whose fingers will be pointed have themselves done the thing he is accused of. Of course the charge is not now a motoring one. It is perverting the course of justice which is indeed more serious but again not uncommon & when related to ... (more) |
ZNC Private Message logging moduleI have recently switched from using dircproxy as an IRC bouncer to ZNC and it is turning out to be a better piece of software. (Not least of which is decent SSL support and a handy web interface that allows easy reconfiguration) However, it suffers from the same problem as many other bouncers – it doesn't log Private Messages when you're online. This is annoying because I may have left some machine somewhere connected that I might not return to for a day or two, or I might be on a mobile device that's prone to losing it's connection due ... (more) |
Jo Swinson is Nick Clegg's new PPSHot off the press from the Lib Dem Press Office 'Following the appointment of Norman Lamb as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, Liberal Democrat MP for East Dunbartonshire, Jo Swinson has been appointed as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Leader of the Liberal Demcorats and Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg.' This to me is terrific news. So both Jo Swinson and Jenny Willott have had promotions today. It might not make up for Chris Huhne going but it could have been a lot worse. A lot worse. [IMG: Share on Tumblr] [IMG: ... (more) |
Ed Davey is not fit to be a Cabinet ministerThe principal reason being his collusion with lobbyists acting for the big pub corporations, who he allowed to write large parts of a Government report in response to the BIS Select Committee. Today's news for Chris Huhne is a personal tragedy and I hope he clears his name. He is a huge loss both to the Government and the Liberal Democrats. But there are others more worthy and capable of being Cabinet Ministers. Norman Lamb, calm and unobtrusive, is a much more effective negotiator who would not have led the capitulation over the erosion of employment rights presided over by ... (more) |